Commentary response: It’s your data, so you have a right to know who’s selling it

“If you ran into a neighbor at the grocery store and asked them about creating a regulatory framework for data brokering in Delaware, you’d probably get a puzzled look. But what if you asked that same neighbor if they want to know who’s selling their name, address, biometric data or other information linked to their identity, who’s buying up their personal information and how businesses are profiting off of that data? I can tell you that when we put the issues into clear and relatable terms, people get interested.”

• Good job putting this together! Hopefully, it will become law. This new law will be a great first step in the need to eradicate the questionable use of personal data by unethical businesses and outright bad actors. The transparency in identifying these organizations will have a positive effect on literally all Delawareans. More steps are also needed. A few states have enacted more comprehensive consumer data-privacy laws. About half of the states are looking at doing the same. These new laws have several provisions in common, such as the right to access and delete personal information and to opt out of the sale of personal information, among others. Hopefully, our legislature will pass this law and take additional steps to provide similar relief to the citizens of Delaware. — Bill Bowden